Third Year : What No One Tells You

Bonjour, new 3rd Year!
Ah, the year of ward rotations is finally here. The year when you'll get the true doctor feels. (or so we all think in 3rd year).

Whatever conversations you have about 3rd year with your seniors will, for the most part, generally tend to revolve around books, modules, tests, prof, how to study, and so on and so forth, with a little sprinkling of wards in between. However, there is other, hardcore practical information; a knowledge of which I feel, is just as crucial to your survival throughout this year. Hence we will be talking about these aspects today, that get overlooked in most normal conversations.

PROXIES

For all those fellows who are fond of hitting snooze and dozing through a dozen alarms, well, bad news - Third Year is a no proxyh zone for the most part. Let me break it down for you:
Pharmacology : strictly no proxy, unless you are on exceptionally good terms with Uncle Munir
Forensic Medicine: the occasional proxy can be marked here and there, if you have a salaam dua with Tweety Uncle aka Javed Sahab.
Pathology: Patho will troll you endlessly. On days that you actually go to the lecture, a sheet will be passed and there will be ample room for proxies. But when you would decide to innocently bask in the sunlight on a cold winter day; lo and behold - Touqeer will arrive and keep a stern eye on all.
IMPORTANT: You might want to also attend the surgery lectures, at least some if not all, or get yourself marked present otherwise, because according to an assistant professor of surgery department, the new chairman of Surgery Dept is very particular about attendance; and from now onwards, the attendance of surgery lectures of 3rd and 4th year would also be counted towards your total attendance in final year.

LABS

You do need to go to the Patho lab, for it counts towards your monthly and final attendance.
(Pro Tip: If you can't take the lab, go to Touqeer prior to it, and nicely ask him to mark your attendance. If you are lucky, it might work).
The other labs do not count towards final attendance, and usually there is room for a couple of proxies; however, they do hold a weightage in your internal assessment (esp forensic). I would advise you to go to the Pharma and Forensic labs too, they'll help you complete your practical notebooks on time and that will be one less headache at the end of the year.

CHAAPA

I am NOT advising you to give up studying and rely entirely on copying for your class tests, but let's admit, we all resort to it once in a while to save that all-important internal assessment.
For your module tests, you will be split up between Forensic and Pharma lecture theatres, and labs. From what I have experienced, in Patho and Forensic tests, it is quite easy to glance across at someone else's paper. [Even when Touqeer stands on your head in patho, just know that you can work your away around him sweetly if you are short of other options]. In Pharma tests, the invigilation is relatively strict.
But as a general rule, lecture theatres are easier to work in than labs, as you would already know from your own two years' experience.

OVERALLS

Remember Dissection Hall, that you would get thrown out of on most days without an overall? Not the case in 3rd year. No need to carry around your overall at all times, except during major wards. Definitely not needed in labs, unlike 2nd year.

WARDS

Wards are too extensive a subject to be covered here. For starters, you will have 2 major wards of 2 months each - Medicine and Surgery which you do have to attend, and eight minor wards of two weeks each. Now from the minors, Eye (specially Unit 1, they are really particular about attendance), ENT and Paediatrics are the ones that you should ideally attend; taking the others is solely subject to your interest.

Overall, I feel 3rd year is a lot better and relaxed than 2nd year. You no longer have to struggle with substages every other week. With a lot of minor lectures and minor wards, you have enough free time at hand (which is why many people start studying for Step 1 in 3rd year). You get done with the day around 1 PM generally, unless you are one of those few poor souls who have evening wards; in which case you, have my sympathies!

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